Characters with Male and Female Genders in the Tarot Cards are quite common. For a long time, I thought that this was merely the creative decision of the Designer of that Tarot Deck. However, as I worked with the cards, over the years, this perception has changed. Today, I would like to talk a little bit about the Masculine or Male and the Feminine or Female Gender Characters in the Tarot Cards, and what they have come to mean for me.
This year began with a bang for me! After waiting for 6 years, my immigration visa interview came through and I am finally on my way to USA to meet my family, live with my Mom (till I find my own accommodation) and generally give my career as a fiction writer some right mileage.
But before I launch into all that, let’s have a look at some interesting number facts that I noticed along the way…
My final interview date was set on the 31st of December, 2008. Add it all up: 3+1+1+2+2+8 = 17 which adds to an 8. Then, my interview was conducted in a cubicle numbered 9. If you add up 8 and 9, you again get 17, which, adds up to an 8. I was the 8th last one from among the whole lot of people to be called in for the interview (the Gujrati (!!) lady next to me was keeping count!) 🙂
Interesting! Well, I was born on the 8th of Jan…. and I have often observed how this number and it’s half (the 4) keeps popping up in my life on and off for all the strangest of reasons.
My flight is booked for the 28th of Jan, 2009. Add these up and you can see that 2+8+1+2+9 = 22 which adds up to a 4! I live in a flat numbered 4.
I am going to live with my mom for some time, before I can figure things out in the USA. Her house number is 305 (another 8)!!
So, with all these numbers going around, let’s have a look at the year to come: 2009. This year adds up to 11 or 2. So, let’s examine these numbers with regards to our cards.
This one is the actual number that this year adds up to. The Justice card, among other things, talks about decisions – taking decisions, making decisions (oh, yes, there is a difference between them two!) and about Karmic Justice. This is the kind of open-eyed Justice, where all is seen and heard, and then action is taken with all the pros and cons in mind. The main feature of this card is also inherent in the pair of scales which she holds in her left hand – Balance, and the sword she holds in her right hand – Logic.
She is often likened to Themis, the Greek Goddess of Justice, or to Ma’at, the Egyptian Goddess of Justice. And in keeping with the qualities ascribed to both these Goddesses, she takes logical and balanced decisions, weighing all her actions and thoughts in accordance with the Universal Law of Karma.
My Prediction:
This is a year when all things will even out – Karmic Debts will be repaid and decisions will be taken with an even-handed, action-oriented, long-term perspective and an objective vision.
The High Priestess card is often held to be the most powerful card in the entire deck – simply because it is full of deep symbolism, and because it shows the inner sanctum of the Divine Feminine.
She is often likened to Persephone or to Isis, and sometimes even to the female Pope. The High Priestess is the perfect picture of the balance that one can achieve within the Duality of everything.
She is the inner self – the unconscious force which holds all the secrets concealed within her psyche. She is the representation of inner wisdom and intuition. She is the stillness before creation.
She simply is – and there is no disputing that fact.
My Prediction:
Taking forward the tone set by the Justice card, this year will also be one where focus will be drawn within – our souls, our inner worlds and our inner wisdom. Intuition and instinct will rule the decisions which will be made and taken. Although stillness will be the norm, it will foster new thoughts and ideas which will be waiting to germinate and sprout out into form (in the next year!)
The Judgement card talks of redemption – a redemption from the cycles of Karmic action. This is a card indicating freedom and release. Typically depicting a scene from the ‘Judgement Day’ scenario, this card signifies a movement forward on the Karmic ladder – where one transcends the flow of material life and moves into the spiritual form.
My Prediction:
Adding to the tone of the message from the Justice and The High Priestess cards, the Judgement card tells me that for those among us who ‘hear the wake-up call’, our intuitions will guide us along the right paths – helping us take and make decisions with a strong will power, and creating situations from where maintaining and generating Karmic balances will lead us on to a place where we will be free from struggles and transcend towards redemption. The key theme of this year will be Forgiveness.
So, after all these deep, heavy, top-level things, what will our everyday lives be all about? Let’s look at the Minors for that.
This card from the Suit of Wands talks clearly about careers, work and seeking opportunities. This man standing on the terrace of his house, dressed in fine clothes, looks on to the sprawling ocean in front of him, while holding on to a wand in one hand and a globe in another.
This card talks of how the world has indeed become a small place. We don’t really suffer from the ‘frog in the pond’ syndrome anymore – rather, we have now begun to question ourselves more about our self-created perceptions of that pond. To me, this card is now raising the following questions:
My Prediction:
Many of us will face these questions in different aspects of our lives – especially, our careers, and in any other area of life, where our desires and passions – our fire energy – comes into play.
This is a card which talks of choices and decisions. In this picture, we see a woman holding two swords in her hand, while crossing her hands across her chest. She has a blindfold on her eyes, and she cannot see. We also see a crescent moon in the sky, and a water body behind her. She is faced with decisions (remember the Justice card?) – but she also wants to protect her own heart from the consequences of these decisions. Perhaps, she is also afraid to see what lies ahead of her, and so she has chosen to be, or to remain blindfolded. There are choices available to her, but she knows, that she has no one else to rely on, except for her own intuition. She knows that no matter what decision she takes, she is liable to face the consequences.
My Prediction:
Many of us will find ourselves at cross-roads and at cross-purposes this year. Taking and making decisions will rule our minds – choices will be available: between a rock and a hard place, or between the devil and the deep blue sea. Take your pick! But the main questions that abound will be: ‘Should I choose now?’ and ‘Can I choose now?’. No matter how logical it may or may not sound, it is Intuition which will rule over the mind in the next year.
[Psst: Note how her sitting pose is strikingly similar to the Goddess in the Justice card and the High Priestess card!]
This card from the Suit of Pentacles shows a young man dressed up in clothes which look funny, but he is definitely not laughing. He is juggling two pentacles within a lemniscate – with boats going up and down on the waves right behind him. The whole juggling the pentacles business is exactly how many of us are going to manage our money this year.
My Prediction:
Many of us will spend time in an endless juggling match – trying to do this thing and that, trying to keep things going. And while this is going on, the emotional ups and downs in the background are not going to ease up on us…Add to this mix the whole career-questions raised in the 2 of Wands and the choices presented to us in the 2 of Swords, this year promises to be one filled with a seemingly endless up and down financial see-saw.
This card seems to be the most promising one of all. Here, we see a young man and a young woman meeting each other and exchanging cups. Above them rises the face of a lion with wings and a caduceus – passion and healing, combined with an exchange of emotions.
My Prediction:
Many of us will find friends or lovers or significant others in this year. It will be a relationship where the key feature will be sharing of emotions which brings about healing and then leads on to passion.
Alternatively, this card also shows a harmonious partnership at the workplace or business. This kind of partnership is sustainable and creates a positive feel at the workplace.
Some of us may also experience a harmony coming about within the male and female parts of their psyche (the Animus and the Anima).
This year looks good with regards to taking and making balanced and logical decisions – in fact, the favorable decisions made in this year will be those which have been taken with the gut instinct / intuition in consultation. Similarly, in the different aspects of life choices, decisions, harmony and adjustment are the key themes which abound.
Perhaps nothing substantial may occur this year, but this is the year where the foundations are going to be laid out for the fruits of next year. So it is extremely important and essential that things be done right this time!
And so I leave you with a quote from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar (Act IV, Scene III), which is something which I always follow in my life:
There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their lives
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.
May The New Year Bless Us All!
